Amy Doeun

Biography

About me

Amy lives with her husband and growing brood on the Eastside of St.Paul. They have chickens in the backyard and a goal to live simply and sustainably. She is a full time mother, part time writer and passionate farmer. She and her husband rent land from the Minnesota Food Association where they run their Crazy Boy Farm. Her blog is www.CrazyBoyFarm.com

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I am sure anyone who has tried to start their own business understands the struggle to stay on top of changes in the market. But when you farm you also have to stay on top of changing weather! My the past couple of years have been weird–long, long winters, super wet springs, cool summers, etc. At least this year we didn’t have the number of severe storms we had last year. But anyway you get the picture. While we are adding a hoop house this fall for our vegetable production we decided that it was time to branch out into meat production. You have already see our pigs. Now it is time to meet the cows.

I really really love this time of year (though I do hope that this winter will be a bit more mild then last). But I love the cool crisp mornings, the expectation for school and a new rhythm to the day and I love that the days are still warm enough to really enjoy that last bit of summer. This month has been really good to us as our weekend schedules and family duties cleared up a bit so we could spend even more time where we really love being.

I was watching “My Fair Lady” last night. It has been ages since I have seen it. I was taken with the part where Eliza leaves and Henry Higgins finds her at his mother’s house. Eliza says that she felt that she has always been treated like a lady by Mr. Pickering and that subsequently she felt like Henry had not treated her like a lady. But Higgins countered that he felt it was more important to treat all people the same. I think there is some truth in that. Of course I believe we should treat all people well and with respect (Henry Higgins admitted he was grouchy with everyone).

This weekend we had an amazing opportunity–teaching a cooking class at the Seward Co-op. It was such an amazing experience. I love surrounding myself with people who love good food, sharing ideas and recipes and just chatting. Here are some pictures from the event.

Finally it feels like spring around here. As I was transferring my blog to the new host I was going through some old posts and found that 2 years ago when we first moved here our crab apple tree flowered in late March. However it has yet to flower this year. Just last week Avril asked, “are the snow days over?” and I realized like her I had been kinda holding my breathe. But when I assured her that they were she was so relieved that it was fun to see.

It is always interesting how nature intersects with our human constructions. I remember seeing pigeon nests as a child tucked away in I beams in the skyway in downtown St. Paul. More recently hawk’s nests on electrical poles along the highway. But this year we have our own story.

There has been a lot on my mind lately. I don't know if it is the uncertain economy catching up with local foods, a flux of new CSAs or crazy weather making consumers doubt the CSA model but our CSAs numbers are way down. I am honestly scrambling. Trying to figure out how we might make ends meet this year and if we will be able to afford to farm next year. As much as I try to keep this space positive there is so much uncertainty right now and it is weighing on me. It seems agriculture across the board is feeling the hit. My friends that raise goats are struggling. My friends that run CSAs are struggling. Anyone I know who is trying to make a way for themselves is struggling.

What a great weekend. This weekend Proeun and I attended not one but 2 CSAs/Local Food Days at local co-ops. Proeun attended the Seward Co-op's CSA Fair while I (Amy) attended the City Center Market's "Meet Your Farmer" Day. While we love farming we don't get a chance to hang out with other farmer's and like minded folk that much and so these 2 events were especially rejuvenating. A couple things we learned were that Local Food and CSAs are a thriving, growing field. But still many farms are seeing there numbers down from last year. So if you have not signed up for a CSA yet make sure you do. Click here for our CSA information.

I had a different post planned for today. I was going to talk about how wonderful the sun feels and how all of us are just soaking it up. I was going to describe playing outside as a family and the anticipation of spring. I was going to tell you how the children have been singing about spring and summer for 3 days now and how glad I am that it looks like this winter will be different from the last (when we had significant snow fall on May 2!).

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the 9th annual Immigrant and Minority farming conference. I have been on the planning committee for the past 3 years. This just makes me appreciate the conference more. Some of you may not know but farming is hard work, and it can be very isolating. It can also be emotionally draining especially when you run a CSA and you have customers that are depending on you but there is nothing you can do about the weather, little you can do about water and pests, well they can be overwhelming. You know the product you want to give but sometimes it just doesn't happen and all you can do is pick-up and try again next year.

Seasonal living is pretty new to me. By seasonal living I mean enjoying the here and now for what it has to offer and not constantly looking forward to the next thing. For example enjoying home life, long evenings relaxing and crafting, comfort foods, stories and homeschool in full swing during the winter. And loving the long days, evenings playing outdoors, warm weather and hearty work of the summer months and everything in between. I really love it.

I finally did. I have been wanting to have a handmade Christmas for a long time, but didn't think it would really work for the children. The adults in my family have enjoyed it for several years now with each of us trying to come up with something special to make for the others. For example this year I made salted caramel sauce and truffles for my sister and she made us homemade root beer and birch beer. I should say that I am so blessed that I come from a family where handmade is normal. My grandfather loved working with wood and my grandmother started a line of women who sew, knit, crochet, embroider, can, cook from scratch and bake and really anything else they decide to try.

It sure is. This morning our thermostat said -10 degrees. Yes that is the temperature. We are pretty sheltered here by the woods but I have heard that the wind chill today is expected to reach -30. So what would make a 32 year old mother of 5 children want to leave a nice comfortable bed and house to go out into weather like that? Chores. I have to admit when reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder series and she would talk about chores I had no idea what that meant. Now I do. We currently have 12 goats, 35 chickens, 3 barn cats, 2 rabbits and 1 donkey, plus there are the 2 dogs and 2 indoor cats (but the children normally take care them). I have to admit, yesterday I was thinking that if we didn't have all these animals that I would be able to sleep in and I wouldn't have to chores on days like today.

Last week we made our last delivery for the season. It is always a weird feeling when we get to this point. For four months our schedule has been pretty "regular" you could say with cycles of harvesting, washing, packing and delivering. Before that there was the planting, set up projects and scrambling to get everything ready. But now there is just peace. One farmer friend I know said "the good thing about farming in California is that you can farm all year. The bad thing about farming in California is that you can farm all year."

Last year the children and I read all the way through the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. After moving to a farm the stories had a special meaning to us as we compared our life with hers. One section that really struck me was the depiction of haymaking with her father. Charles Ingalls had no sons that lived so his work was especially hard but Laura was more then willing to step in and help.